4.0 out of 5
Def Jam
Def Jam
Let's be honest: Ghostface Killah albums are overwhelming. Stacks and stacks of verses and intricate patterns and fury and confusing imagery and impossible to storyboard narratives and multiple personas and assorted Wu peeps dropping by and killing it and standard, heavy East Coast beats and major label debuts recorded entirely behind a fencing mask.
Ghost LPs are instantly likable, worth studying, a Sam's Club load of material. They're either amazing (Iron Man, Clientele, Pretty Toney) or mostly amazing but plagued with inconsistency (Bulletproof Wallets, More Fish, Big Doe Rehab). I'd argue 2006's Fishscale is his best album; all are worth stashing.
With apologies to street classics like "Apollo Kids" and "Yolanda's House," I haven't listened to a Ghost song more than "Back Like That," the failed jab at radio with Ne-Yo about cheating lovers and revenge and sparkling piano lines and a towering R&B hook and an even better winter '06 remix with Kanye West. Something about enjoying Tony Starks' grizzly attacks juxtaposed with baby-making music gets me.
Fittingly, Kanye's overlooked guest spot resurfaces as a bonus on Ghostdini: The Wizard of Poetry in Emerald City, a brilliant collection of songs that work masterfully because, a) they're delectable ear candy vitalized by Ghost's mature themes, b) Ghost's raps are stellar, c) they draw from "Back Like That's" founding structure.
And if you're moaning the fact a remix over three years old already stuffed at the end of More Fish is attached to another solo Ghost LP with obvious, Kanye-as-a-selling-point goals, there's artistic justification.
On Ghostdini, our hero is considerably more straightforward: he wants a wife to oversee his fortunes ("Not Your Average Girl"), he's excited about fatherhood and the prospects of more babies ("Baby"), he's got a Jones for pregnant women ("Paragraphs of Love") and generally, he's lamenting his infidelity ("Do Over") and wants consistent, raw, sex (every other song).
Pushing 40, this makes perfect sense. But no other '90s rapper still standing could pull off such TMI lines about the effects of Diabetes on his libido ("If my sugar high, my dick don't get up"); such revealing, sad cries ("Will you cook for me?"); such archaic, misogynist pleas ("I want you in boy shorts around the house"). Moreover, Ghost's mid-life crisis mosaic is a concise, well-paced, high concept vehicle.
Props are in order to the cast of crooners - Estelle, Raheem "Radio" DeVaugh, Jack Knight, John Legend, Lloyd and especially Vaughn Anthony on the "Paragraphs" hook. They fuel Ghostdini: The Wizard of Poetry in Emerald City beyond the guys night out immaturity of early leaks like the don't-ever-play-this-on-your-work-computer epic, "Stapleton Sex."
The R&B production almost purposefully storms into redundant, candy gloss clichés. But songs like "I'll Be That" featuring nondescript Ashanti wannabe, Adrienne Bailon, revel in the iconography of the style to hilariously hammer home how badly Tony Starks wants a King vixen as a bride. The samples are worn within the genre but by repeatedly draping himself in the comfort soul of his childhood, Ghost opens up about the paisley pajamas he got from St. Thomas.
Admittedly, there are curious loose ends.
There's zero evocation of "Emerald City" or "Ghostdini" or "The Wizard of Poetry" anywhere in the album. There's a terrible Ron Browz-Autotune bonus cut. The cinematic moments don't exist beyond their allotted minutes and leave respective tales unfinished. But this is what makes every Ghost album great, I mean did we ever find out what happened after Frank got shot in "Shakey Dog?" Or who Frank was?
Ghost gets guests to play along, likely this work's crowning achievement. Fabolous as a cable man who creeps with Ghost's woman in Ghost's guesthouse. Ghost walks in, flips out and shoots him. English starlet Estelle as a pregnant women named Gaby due in January, getting married on Christmas, who is only "kinda happy," whom Ghost offers sautéed shrimp and openly pines for.
The above number, "Paragraphs of Love," is a torrent of rushing synthesizers warmly wrapped in glorious melodrama that breaks into a heart-stopping, serendipitously included chorus. It's incredible.
- Ramon Ramirez
Ghost LPs are instantly likable, worth studying, a Sam's Club load of material. They're either amazing (Iron Man, Clientele, Pretty Toney) or mostly amazing but plagued with inconsistency (Bulletproof Wallets, More Fish, Big Doe Rehab). I'd argue 2006's Fishscale is his best album; all are worth stashing.
With apologies to street classics like "Apollo Kids" and "Yolanda's House," I haven't listened to a Ghost song more than "Back Like That," the failed jab at radio with Ne-Yo about cheating lovers and revenge and sparkling piano lines and a towering R&B hook and an even better winter '06 remix with Kanye West. Something about enjoying Tony Starks' grizzly attacks juxtaposed with baby-making music gets me.
Fittingly, Kanye's overlooked guest spot resurfaces as a bonus on Ghostdini: The Wizard of Poetry in Emerald City, a brilliant collection of songs that work masterfully because, a) they're delectable ear candy vitalized by Ghost's mature themes, b) Ghost's raps are stellar, c) they draw from "Back Like That's" founding structure.
And if you're moaning the fact a remix over three years old already stuffed at the end of More Fish is attached to another solo Ghost LP with obvious, Kanye-as-a-selling-point goals, there's artistic justification.
On Ghostdini, our hero is considerably more straightforward: he wants a wife to oversee his fortunes ("Not Your Average Girl"), he's excited about fatherhood and the prospects of more babies ("Baby"), he's got a Jones for pregnant women ("Paragraphs of Love") and generally, he's lamenting his infidelity ("Do Over") and wants consistent, raw, sex (every other song).
Pushing 40, this makes perfect sense. But no other '90s rapper still standing could pull off such TMI lines about the effects of Diabetes on his libido ("If my sugar high, my dick don't get up"); such revealing, sad cries ("Will you cook for me?"); such archaic, misogynist pleas ("I want you in boy shorts around the house"). Moreover, Ghost's mid-life crisis mosaic is a concise, well-paced, high concept vehicle.
Props are in order to the cast of crooners - Estelle, Raheem "Radio" DeVaugh, Jack Knight, John Legend, Lloyd and especially Vaughn Anthony on the "Paragraphs" hook. They fuel Ghostdini: The Wizard of Poetry in Emerald City beyond the guys night out immaturity of early leaks like the don't-ever-play-this-on-your-work-computer epic, "Stapleton Sex."
The R&B production almost purposefully storms into redundant, candy gloss clichés. But songs like "I'll Be That" featuring nondescript Ashanti wannabe, Adrienne Bailon, revel in the iconography of the style to hilariously hammer home how badly Tony Starks wants a King vixen as a bride. The samples are worn within the genre but by repeatedly draping himself in the comfort soul of his childhood, Ghost opens up about the paisley pajamas he got from St. Thomas.
Admittedly, there are curious loose ends.
There's zero evocation of "Emerald City" or "Ghostdini" or "The Wizard of Poetry" anywhere in the album. There's a terrible Ron Browz-Autotune bonus cut. The cinematic moments don't exist beyond their allotted minutes and leave respective tales unfinished. But this is what makes every Ghost album great, I mean did we ever find out what happened after Frank got shot in "Shakey Dog?" Or who Frank was?
Ghost gets guests to play along, likely this work's crowning achievement. Fabolous as a cable man who creeps with Ghost's woman in Ghost's guesthouse. Ghost walks in, flips out and shoots him. English starlet Estelle as a pregnant women named Gaby due in January, getting married on Christmas, who is only "kinda happy," whom Ghost offers sautéed shrimp and openly pines for.
The above number, "Paragraphs of Love," is a torrent of rushing synthesizers warmly wrapped in glorious melodrama that breaks into a heart-stopping, serendipitously included chorus. It's incredible.
- Ramon Ramirez
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